The monthly luncheons at the senior hall draw an eclectic
group of entertainers. April's luncheon featured a guy who is a high school music teacher
by day and in his spare time he moonlights as a folk singer/guitarist playing
various venues around town. I like the teacher-entertainer combo because they
all seem to enjoy talking about the history of the songs they sing. For
example, from this month’s entertainer we learned things like the story behind
why the Massachusetts Transportation Authority calls their electronic tickets ‘Charlie
Cards.’ It comes from a 1948 tax protest song later made famous by the Kington
Trio. The song tells a humorous tale that’s etched in the history of Boston
and is about a guy named Charlie who was forever trapped on the subway because he
couldn’t pay the five cents surcharge to leave the train. The teacher said one
summer while on vacation he spent a day riding on the MBTA and singing
that song. He’s got a quirky way of planning vacation destinations. He seeks
out places that have been memorialized in folk songs where he does something
similar to what he did on the subway in Boston. Listening to him talk in between
songs reminded me of John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley, a book that's been
described as a search-of-America travelogue. What a colorful conglomerate of
people and stories we have here in the USA! Travels
with Charley, by the way, is one of my favorite books. It’s written in a
style that I very much wish I could do.
Tuesday afternoon I attended one of the two monthly Red Hat
Society teas. I can’t say I always enjoy the teas but you have to take the boring with good
(the monthly walk-abouts). The issue is most of my Red Hat
sisters have known each other for eons. They go to the same churches, their
kids went to the same school. Heck, they even went to the same school growing
up and they still live in the same, small community. Lovely women but too often
I’m out of the loop when they talk about people I don’t know. I hang in there
because for years when I was caregiving Don the thought of rejoining the
chapter I was a charter member of kept me believing there would be life after
the caregiver rat race I was on came to an end. And I can’t tell you how many
times I day-dreamed back in those days about starting another Red Hat Society
chapter open strictly to caregivers and with a rule that we could all bring our care
recipients if we couldn’t get a sitter for any given event. It’s
funny how attached I became to an organization I was only involved in vicariously
for over a decade. Now that I’m back in the chapter I’m reminded that nothing ever
stays the same. The frequent trips that I could never go on that caused me
to drop out of the fledgling chapter have evolved into morning walk-abouts. And teas are no longer home gathering
where we’d alternate showing off our finest china and baking skills. Now, teas
take place in a mall’s community room with a Starbucks near-by.
Wednesday I met my youngest niece at the surgical center to
wait with her as her husband went under the knife. I brought with me four baby
sweaters and let her to pick one for her grandma box. My great-great niece is
due on earth any minute. This niece has the most upbeat personality of anyone I
know. Even when she gets vexed---which isn’t often---she’s got a way of
spinning things that has everyone around her laughing. I want to be like her
when I grow up. After spending a couple
of hours of quality time with her my funky mood lifted and I was able to erase
the word ‘lonely’ off the blackboard in my brain.
Today I went to an interesting lecture sponsored by the travel
club I joined---don’t ask me why. I don’t travel and probably won’t take any of
their trips any time soon since I spent my mad money on a new car. The organizers don’t care, they depend on people like me talking
up the club when we get the opportunity. And I have done that, bringing two new
members in who are far more likely to travel than me. Today’s lecture was on travel gear
and I was impressed by the anti-thief purses, for one thing and the anti-microbial
underwear for another. The underwear is quick drying and supposedly you wear it
in the shower to wash it and you at the same time. Who knew! The purses were
made with metal in the lining and straps so people can’t cut them open
and run with the contents. I didn't know they even made things like that. We all were impressed with
the amount of stuff the lecturer pulled out of the three different sized
carry-ons she brought with her. I won an Eagle Creek pack-it system/door
prize that will be the envy of all the street people should I ever find myself living out of a shopping cart.
All in all it’s been a great week and it’s not finished yet.
Tomorrow my Movie and Lunch Club is seeing The
Longest Ride. Bingo, the committee picked the one I was hoping to see! ©
